


Keith's Best Birthday

by DChan87



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Birthday, Birthday Cake, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Crying Keith (Voltron), F/M, Gen, Happy Birthday Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Kallura Month 2018, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith Appreciation, Misunderstandings, bad summary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 15:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16537064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DChan87/pseuds/DChan87
Summary: Keith rarely celebrated his birthday. He rarely even had reason to. Little did he know, his friends and everyone who loved him had something planned.





	Keith's Best Birthday

Work on the ATLAS, preparing it for space flight, was going smoothly. And although Keith might not have actually been in charge, no one was around to inspect the ATLAS at this time, meaning he had to do it himself. As disappointed as he was, a job was a job, and it was his job to do an inspection of the ATLAS’s problem areas—on-board locations where problems were more likely to occur. The rest of the inspections would be left to people who knew what they were doing, like Shiro or Sam Holt. Fortunately, Keith had enough working knowledge of the ATLAS to be able to make a good, thorough inspection.

With Cosmo in tow, Keith descended into the ATLAS’s hangar. Workmen swarmed the ship, looking like ants, because that’s what everyone compares it to. Keith checked his data pad, reviewing the problem areas before he actually had to inspect the ship. Sam Holt, Commander Iverson and Coran had all reassured him that he could easily handle this job, and he was certain he could. But this was the first time he was doing this by himself. He was obviously going to be just a little bit nervous. He could make serious mistakes and—

He felt Cosmo nuzzling his left hand. He smiled and pet the dog. He was going to do fine.

The elevator stopped. He stopped off the elevator and met the man in charge of the work. Some of the workers stopped to look at who’d just come by, and then went back to work. The foreman gestured for Keith to follow, Keith nodded and followed the foreman.

The first things Keith inspected were the mecha’s joints. Normal wear and tear could be mistaken for critical damage, and vice-versa, but Shiro had left notes for him to refer to when inspecting the joints. Thanks to that, he had could easily tell that the wear and tear in the joints was just that, wear and tear, and nothing else. Now he was confident again, just like the first and second times he flew the Black Lion. Sometimes he did wish that he stayed with the team. He deeply regretted running away from them when they needed him most. But he was never going to do that again. Then he brushed his jacket sleeve just to get his head straight (and make it look like he was brushing some dust off said jacket so he wouldn’t look like a crazy person if he smacked his own cheeks).

Thanks to that, the rest of the inspection went by quickly, with Cosmo helping to teleport Keith and the foreman to the problem areas, and smoothly. Even better, the foreman stayed out of the way so Keith could perform the inspection to the best of his ability. Even better, there were no major issues, save for a minor mechanical issue in a vital engine component. He found a small crack in a fuel line leading to the thrusters. It was a small, surface-level crack, but had the potential to get worse if left untreated, like a cavity that the dentist catches early. “I’ll get some men on it right away,” said the foreman. They found no issues after that one. The ATLAS was in great condition to fly and fight.

“I’ll just need your signature,” he told the foreman as they left the ship.

“Yeah, sure,” the foreman replied. Keith handed the data pad for the foreman to sign. “Oh, by the way, I hear it’s your birthday today. Happy birthday.”

Keith paused and looked up at the foreman, not angrily, but… perplexed. “Um, thanks?” he replied hesitantly.

“Oh, I’m… really sorry if I offended you.”

“You’re fine,” said Keith. “I just don’t care much for my birthday.”

“Can’t blame you too much,” the foreman said, “I guess to some people, it’s just a reminder that they’ll eventually die.”

Keith didn’t know if he should laugh at that or not. The foreman appeared to understand that his attempt at dark humor fell flat, and dismissed Keith with a gentle wave of his hand. Then he remembered decorum, snapped to attention and saluted Keith, who saluted back. With that, Keith turned around and left.

 _My birthday, huh?_ He thought to himself. He didn’t usually celebrate his birthday. It just never meant much to him, for a variety of reasons. He did celebrate it with his dad, but it was kind of hard to without him, the Garrison never really celebrated birthdays, and it’s hard to celebrate your birthday out in space where it’s hard to really tell what day it is on earth. It just became another, normal day that just marked the passage of time, nothing else. And it just reminded him that he was alone in the world. All the other kids got birthday parties, he didn’t.

Cosmo didn’t notice his short moment of angst, as it was all in Keith’s head. He kept on switching between “Birthdays don’t mean anything” and “I wish I could’ve had a birthday”. The space wolf just wanted a pet when he licked Keith’s fingers. At first he’d forgotten Cosmo was there, then remembered at the sensation of dog spit on his hand, which caught him off guard at first. He reprimanded himself for not paying enough attention.

Then, in an interesting turn of events, Cosmo stopped and stared off in another direction. Keith kept walking for a couple steps, then stopped when he noticed that he didn’t see Cosmo’s dark-blue fur out of the corner of his eye. He turned around. Cosmo was looking at him, but his body was facing a corridor. He looked down the corridor, then back to Keith, then back to the corridor. Without asking a question, Keith walked towards Cosmo and followed the space wolf down the corridor. His dog was acting very suspicious, and it made Keith wonder if it was just a dog thing or he was keeping some secret. But he could hear him sniffing, which made him think that he just smelled something nice.

“What is it?” Keith asked. “Smell something? Cosmo, come here.”

But Cosmo didn’t stop. Instead, he kept going. Keith was positive this wasn’t the way to the kitchen. He’d been in there earlier, but Hunk had thrown him out. _KEITH!? What’re you doing here!? Go away! I’m… making something really, really bad!_

A likely story. Hunk’s food was never bad.

In fact, everyone had been acting strangely today. Pidge didn’t want to discuss adding new data to the Lions’ computer systems, Shiro politely declined to talk to him, Coran pretended he couldn’t hear him, all while loudly singing the Altean alphabet, Romelle just ran off, Krolia said she was busy and Lance, well… Lance was being a dick, as usual.

Most surprising, though, was Allura. He’d expected to talk to her, to get her thoughts on the Altean who piloted that robot they faced, but she awkwardly told him that she was busy. Things had been kind of awkward after the incident that left them stranded in space outside of their lions, where they almost died or went insane. He’d yelled at everyone, including her, which cut her very deeply. While he apologized and genuinely didn’t mean what he said, even if he was right in a sense about Alfor, and was on the verge of insanity from isolation and oxygen deprivation, it hurt him to know that he’d hurt her so badly.

His thoughts returned to everyone else, he remembered that it was his birthday and he figured out why they were acting so weird. But he doubted that Cosmo was leading him to the party. And even if he was, Keith was already planning on staying for just a few dobashes, and then leaving because he was sure he was going to get uncomfortable. Well, whatever Cosmo was leading him to, he was about to find out at the end of the hallway and when he opened the door—

“ _SURPRIIIISE!_ ”

He shouldn’t have been, but he was. The conference room was filled with people only he knew; Team Voltron, Coran, the MFE team, Lance’s sister, Krolia, Kolivan, Romelle, Acxa, Commander Holt and his wife, Matt and Iverson. Team Voltron was in the front, holding a birthday cake with two candles, forming the number 20, his legal age. Just how many people were here caught him completely off guard, making him reach for his Marmora knife before remembering that he didn’t have it on him.

Still totally surprised and bewildered that everyone had actually bothered to go through so much trouble to put on a surprise birthday party, Keith stood silent for all to see for several minutes. Most surprising to him was Allura. Allura was the last person he expected to celebrate a birthday. Lance being the second, only because, did Alteans celebrate birthdays with their long lives? It was hard to tell.

But she was here now, with all the important people in his life, and that just made his tears flow.

“Aw jeez, you’d better not be cryin’,” Lance grumbled, only to be met with an elbow to his ribs from his sister of all people.

“Shut up, Lance,” Keith choked through the tears. “And thanks, uuuhhhh…”

“Veronica.”

“Veronica.”

“Guys, guys, let’s not fight,” Hunk interjected. “We’re here to celebrate Keith’s birthday. Now, let’s sing—”

“No singing, Hunk.”

“Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaase?” Hunk gave Keith the full puppy-dog pout, making Keith feel guilty for turning him down.

“Okay, you can sing, Hunk,” he relented. Hunk whooped and hollered.

After Hunk, and only Hunk, sang for Keith, he sat down at the table so Hunk could place the cake in front of him. He had been so used to not getting anything for his birthday that this was getting kind of overwhelming, but he stayed. They had all put a lot of effort into this, that the least he could do was stay. In fact, the thought of leaving never occurred to him, because he was so overwhelmed by their efforts. At several times during the party, he nearly broke down to cry. Shiro had to explain that it wasn’t because of any guilt, but because he was so happy.

And then, after that, the others handed their presents to Keith.

Shiro was first. He gave Keith a book on leadership. Hunk was next, and his present was a bag of Samoan-grown coffee. Pidge’s present was a sonic screwdriver that she and Hunk made. Keith didn’t expect much from Lance, but he was pleasantly surprised when he gave him a baseball mitt. Coran’s present was one of those Olkari cubes. Romelle gave him a paperweight. The present from Sam and Colleen Holt was a small model of Voltron. Matt gave him a space rock from a world he’d visited, Acxa gave him a scaltrite wristband and last but not least, Krolia and Kolivan presented him with a new Marmora knife and a fireman’s jacket.

But there was one person missing; Allura. He looked around and found that she was nowhere to be seen. His heart sank. He’d really been looking forward to her present. But he couldn’t dwell on that for very long, because Shiro had gotten everyone’s attention. He held two glasses of champagne in both hands, handing one of them to him. Then, he spoke.

“Keith, I just want you to know that all of us are proud of you. You’ve grown so much and been through a lot. But there’s no denying the impact you’ve had on all our lives. If it wasn’t for you, none of us would be here. Well, except maybe for Sam and Colleen, but that’s totally different.” Everyone chuckled. “The point is, Keith, I know you sell yourself short a lot. But you’re a bright, shining star in all our lives. And I have to admit, you’ve been a better leader of Voltron than I have, like you were born to lead Voltron.” He raised his glass in the air. “To Keith!”

“ _To Keith!_ ” the room replied.

Keith was breaking down in tears. “You guys… thanks so much. This means a lot to me,” he said. “I don’t know how to thank all of you. I’m just not great with words.”

“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t have beaten Lotor if you hadn’t rallied us like that,” said Hunk. “You know what I’m talkin’ about, right?”

“Keith, you’re a great leader,” said Pidge. “And like Shiro said, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

“Yeah, and I’m sorry for being such a jerk before,” added Lance. “But you’re an awesome teammate.”

“Keith,” Krolia announced as she stepped forward. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t. So instead, she lunged forward and threw her arms around him. The room broke out in applause. Then, the rest of the Team Voltron followed suit.

When the party ended, Keith returned to his barracks, carrying his gifts and coming down from the emotional high. But there was still one thing on his mind: where did Allura go? It wasn’t like her to skip out on something like this.

He had just put his things on his bed when he heard someone knocking on his door. “Come in!” he called. Moments later, Allura walked in, carrying a small package in her hands and looking away with a blush in her cheeks. Her blush made Keith blush. “Allura,” he said.

“Happy birthday,” she said softly.

For a moment, neither spoke. Keith felt conflicted. He wanted to demand why she had left the party, but he was thrilled to see her here. His continued silence started to get awkward, even causing Allura to blush again and start to look away.

“Why did you leave the party?” he asked, slightly accusatory. Allura sighed and handed him the package. Keith took one look at the package and sighed. He’d forgotten about it in his moment of hurt. But he took the package off her hands. “Why didn’t you give it to me then?”

“Because I forgot where I put it,” she sheepishly replied, looking away and rubbing the back of her head.

“Oh, that’s why you ducked out,” he said. He smiled, happy that she confirmed that. He was also relieved. “I thought the worst.”

“I’m sorry I left early,” she said. “I hope this makes up for it.”

“It really does,” he said. He looked down at the package.

“Go on, open it!” she said.

Her encouragement and infectious enthusiasm drove him to hurriedly open the package. It must be something good if she was so excited about it!  He tore the paper off, opened the box, and—He paused. He was confused about what she’d gotten him. It was a piece of metal shaped liked a “C”, or an upside down “C”, with a pair of arms coming out of the thick end, which he deduced must be the bottom (which made the “C” and upside down “C”) and six little stick-like things jutting out from the body. But once he took it out of the box, he realized that it wasn’t a jewelry charm, but a tiny metal sculpture of what he realized was a scorpion; a crude rendering of a scorpion, that is.

At first, he was a little disappointed. He’d expected something cooler. He was 20, so of course there were still a few remaining vestiges of that boyish desire for cool stuff. But he noticed that he’d accidentally made her upset. His heart skipped as he realized that he’d hurt her feelings. “It’s… really nice,” he said.

She beamed. “You think so? I made it myself!”

“But, why a scorpion, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well, I heard that, according to your world’s zodiac, you’re a Scorpio,” she said like a student who was repeating something they’d just learned and were proud of themselves for that. “So, Pidge showed me what a scorpion looks like, and I made that. With my alchemy.”

Keith blushed, but also felt his chest tighten. He immediately threw his arms around her and pulled her against him in a firm hug, which Allura returned.

“It’s perfect,” he said. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, pulling away from him and cupping his cheek. “And there’s one more present I’d like to give you.” She pulled his head towards her and pressed her lips against his. Overjoyed, he hugged her tighter and kissed back.


End file.
